Last year the industry added 3,000 megawatts to the U.S. electric grid -- enough energy to power more than 3 million American homes, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

Additionally, Texas surpassed California in becoming the nation's largest producer of wind energy. British Petroleum (NYSE: BP) and Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) made large expansions into wind-generated energy.

In San Antonio, CPS Energy currently purchases more than 500 megawatts of electricity from wind farms on three different sites. This represents more than 10 percent of its projected peak demand. By 2020, the local utility expects to have 15 percent of its peak load generated from renewable resources